Border Security: A National Policy and Planning Imperative
Abstract
At the end of major combat operations in Iraq in May of 2003, the United States and coalition forces started operations to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure and government. However, plans, policy, and forces were not applied to secure the integrity of Iraq's borders, principally its borders with Syria and Iran. Border forces were destroyed or had deserted. Foreign fighters, arms, and supplies would flow at a steady rate across Iraq's border and fuel an insurgency that is still being fought by U.S. and coalition forces. The assessment from "The Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq" dated September 6, 2007, states that border security in Iraq is not much better now than it was at the end of major combat operations. The United States has conducted significant border security operations in other regions of the world that may provide lessons learned on this issue. This paper examines how the United States has addressed border security when developing campaign and theater strategy. It uses historical cases to study the issue. Iraq is the most recent case, but the author also looks at operations along the Afghanistan border with Pakistan in the Federally Administrated Tribal Area (FATA), continuing operations along the Serbian and Macedonian borders in Kosovo, as well as other historical border conflicts and anti-infiltration operations. The author uses the elements of national power to build a border security strategy for future campaigns where this problem will likely recur. For the purposes of the paper, the author defines border security as operations designed to prevent undesired infiltration of groups of 300 or less for the purposes of destabilizing, resupplying, or supporting the conduct of an insurgency or limited war where the United States is conducting either post-conflict operations or nation building to meet its interests.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 29, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA479327
Entities
People
- Christopher K. Hoffman
Organizations
- United States Army War College